The Color Psychology Behind Uniforms

Colors are part of our everyday life. Different tones and hues color up every object around us. Even though the naked eye can easily partake in making an opinion based on the pigmentation of something, color significantly impacts our subconscious. Here color psychology comes in, where hues are determinants of our behavior and tones can establish our perspectives, ideas, opinions, and conclusions.

Did you know color psychology plays a role in industry uniforms? Business uniforms are made to have equality among staff while representing a brand. The shade of a uniform can evoke emotions, which is why different industries opt for styling specific colors.

Let’s see the color psychology behind business uniforms:

Red - The color that evokes appetite! Red is associated with love, passion, and power. This pigment enhances metabolism and navigates us towards hunger. Thus, many restaurant employees wear red when catering to their customers.

Green - Whenever the word "green" comes to mind, we usually picture a tree, grass, or flowers. That is because it is the color associated with nature. Green is seen as the tone that represents growth, renewal, balance, freshness, fertility, and vitality. People who opt for a green uniform are masseuses, farmers, gardeners, and landscapers.

Blue is another hue that evokes an emotional response. This color typically conveys confidence, strength, dependability, competence, and trust. Medical and healthcare employees use this tone to communicate these feelings. Engineers use a darker shade of blue to represent practicality, responsibility, and reliability.

White - The color white represents purity, sterility, and integrity. White is used frequently by medical staff like doctors, pharmacists, and nurses.

Black is not a color but rather the lack of it. However, it sparks a sense of professionalism, power, authority, and control. Therefore, judges, police officers, and guards tend to wear black uniforms.

Whether you have put much thought into it or not, the color of a uniform can speak to our subconscious. According to Adam Soreff,

"colors used for employee uniforms can play a significant role in a business." "Utilizing the psychology of colors can most definitely help reinforce a sought-after business image or message, such as technical proficiency or reliability. And customers often subliminally take such 'uniform' messaging more seriously because it's being worn by a real person, someone who embodies the brand and makes the brand more tangible to them."

Next time you wear a uniform or see someone else wear one, think about how colors speak to you. Do they truly represent a brand's stance? Are they accurate with the feeling they are trying to evoke?